August 2010

I want to thank you, on behalf of the entire Ministry Essentials family, for your continued and faithful support.  You encourage and strengthen us for the task at hand.  Your belief in us and friendship challenges us when loneliness sets in with a vengeance.  And your pursuit of God inspires a deeper love [...]

July 2010

We were privileged to have Dr. Larry Crabb pour into us during our recent all staff retreat.  Our discussions revolved around relational holiness; i.e. In our desire to become more like Jesus we repent of known sin and seek to live in the Spirit (personal holiness) – that’s good.  Relational holiness ups the [...]

June 2010

Preparing for a few speaking engagements, I’ve been thinking through the “come to me” passages in the Gospels.  The three categories of people Jesus invites to come are–the children (needy) (Mt. 18:3, 19:14; Mk. 10:14; Lk. 18:16) the thirsty (Jn. 7:37) and the weary (Mt. 11:28).

Each, though unique, flesh out more of [...]

May 2010

“Our hope of  satisfaction later in an eternal experience of God is a more reliable foundation for following Jesus in this life than a satisfying experience of God now.”
Larry Crabb, Real Church

I know I pray it often enough.  We want to see Jesus.  And we should want to.  But too [...]

Click on the image to view.

“Community is a terrible place, a place where our limitations and egoisms are revealed to us.  When we begin to live full time with others we discover our poverty and our weakness, our inability to get on with others… our mental and emotional blocks; our affective and sexual disturbances, our frustrations and jealousies …and our [...]

March 2010

“To wait for the Lord is not to stand around lazily, wondering what will turn up next.  It is an intense seeking after God and a devout believing in his goodness.  He is worth waiting for!
Eugene Peterson
Sailors call it the ‘doldrums’ when they lack sufficient wind to fill the sails.  No wind, no [...]

“Our lives are full, often complicated, and it seems we spend so much time attempting to fit God into our story that we don’t allow ourselves to be lifted up into His story–an epic narrative that is mysterious, compelling and utterly transforming.”
Larry Crabb

For some time now I’ve felt that I’m not the lead [...]

“Spirituality is not a formula; it is a relationship.  Spirituality is not about competency; it is about intimacy.  Spirituality is not about perfection; it is about connection.”
Mike Yaconelli

Looking back over 2009, I’m awed and humbled by what I see.  The Lord is pulling together a group of people; friends, not afraid to walk [...]

“Only he who obeys a rhythm superior to his own is free”
– Nikos Kazantzakis

Becoming aware of the quiet passions that motivate us, it often seems we are more slave to base and petty demands or societal whim than anything else.  For us to find true freedom, we must learn the rhythms of prayer [...]